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Heater Valve Control Cable Mod
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Wildthings
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:42 pm    Post subject: Heater Valve Control Cable Mod Reply with quote

I have had three Vanagons and they all bent the heater control cable right at the operating lever. Since I had the dash off today I decided to see if I could improve things. I shortened the center wire of the cable almost 1 1/2 inches and then repositioned the sheath so the cable operated normally. I also had to bend the tap where the inner wire hooks upwards a little. Very easy mod if you have the dash off. Looks like it should work well.



Here is the original set up. You can see that the center wire has been bent at some point in the past.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.




Here is the cable after modification.

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Terry Kay
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 3:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Take a good lok at these picture's.
From my vantage point, and from what I'm seeing is , you've lengthened the outer cable so much in it stop that the inner cable isn't going to able to move more than a hair.

What I see is, you just lenghtened the inner cable so much, and so close to the lever, that the inner cable isn't going to be able to move anything.
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?Waldo?
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 3:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Terry, from my vantage point it looks like the lever is all the way toward the sheath in it's pictured position and so it would in fact have a full range of motion away from the sheath.

Andrew
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Wildthings
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 3:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The heat is all the way OFF in both pictures. The lever can not move any more to the left even in the top pic do to the physical limitations of the original design. The heat is turned ON by moving the lever to the right, the action of the lever is normal.
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Terry Kay
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 9:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gotcha---

The maybe reason the inner cable got twisted up is the outer must have slipped in the holder, and the outer went back too far.

Who know's---??
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Wildthings
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 3:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Terry Kay wrote:
Gotcha---

The maybe reason the inner cable got twisted up is the outer must have slipped in the holder, and the outer went back too far.

Who know's---??


I went out and checked the other two WBX Vanagons I have parked out back. They were both set up as in the top picture. Both have given trouble in the past with the cables bending.

The 91 is scheduled to have the dash pulled to get a new heater motor as soon as I can find were I set the darn thing down. I intend to make the same heater cable mod to it while I am in there.
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redcanoe
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 9:48 pm    Post subject: heater control cable time estimate Reply with quote

I saw Wildthings post some time back. When my cable bent I was unable to lower the heat output. The control lever was over in the 'hot' postion and wouldn't move towards 'cold' more than halfway and was very spring-like due to the bend. I shortened up on the center cable until the connection to the lever was just the other side of the bend. Now my lever moves fully to the cold position on the left but only goes about 70% of the way to the hot positon.

While I'm not cooking all the time it seems that I can't shut the heat off entirely even when all the way left to the 'cold' postion where I should be just getting outside airflow. Shorter inner cable perhaps is not pushing the thermostat lever as far as it should go.

I have had the instrument cluster off, or at least disconnected enough to get it out of the way. Still a bugger of a place to work in. I was also underneath the clamshell to have a look but have not tried to get my hands up there to do any disconnects. Looks like a bugger too.

Good response to my question, thanks a bunch folks.
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Wildthings
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You may need to get the length of the inner and outer cables correct to work with each other. I shortened my inner cable a little too much at first and I couldn't shut the flow off fully, I then had to shorten the outer just a bit to match and it has worked well since.

The heater control valves can go bad as well. In particular they may get where they still pass coolant even in the fully closed position, no adjustment of the cable can help you then.
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Terry Kay
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

To make this job a bunch simpler, get somebody under the Van to keep an eye on the valve as you adjust/ cut the cable, to get a full swing on the lever on the valve.

If you still got heat and the cable is giving full swing from full open to full closed postion, put an accessory heater shut off valve in the heater feed hose and be done with it.

The stock plastic front shut off valves are garbage, and don't do the job they were intended to do-not for very long anyway.
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Zero419
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PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 7:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

can this adjustment be done with the dash in place?
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Terry Kay
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PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 9:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The dash can stay in place, but you will have to drop the spare tire to access the valve, cable & retaining clip.
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Wildthings
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PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 9:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Terry Kay wrote:
The dash can stay in place, but you will have to drop the spare tire to access the valve, cable & retaining clip.


I have done it all from the top with the dash in place. Not easy, but doable.
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Slimvest
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 9:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Either my cable went bad or the heater valve is getting stiff, which caused the cable to bend at the dash control over the weekend. After cursing a bit over the fact that I just had the coolant system worked on and bled a month ago, I came up with this:

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Not sure how long it will last, but the zip tie is preventing the cable from bowing/bending when I move the lever to the cool side. Problem solved...until it isn't. Laughing
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t3 kopf
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 2:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

When my cable did that, I relocated my valve inside the cabin and made it manual. I put it behind the kick panel in the heater core line in. When I want heat, I just open the glovebox, reach behind and turn the lever.
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1vw4x4
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 9:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This can easily be fixed by straightening the cable. Add a little lube
and never force the lever again.
I'm not sure why these get stiff, but my newest Syncro an 1988 has very low mileage on it. This lever is extremely easy to throw.


Slimvest wrote:
Either my cable went bad or the heater valve is getting stiff, which caused the cable to bend at the dash control over the weekend. After cursing a bit over the fact that I just had the coolant system worked on and bled a month ago, I came up with this:

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Not sure how long it will last, but the zip tie is preventing the cable from bowing/bending when I move the lever to the cool side. Problem solved...until it isn't. Laughing
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Slimvest
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 12:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
This can easily be fixed by straightening the cable. Add a little lube
and never force the lever again.


Trying to do this without having the dash out? Straightening sounds tough. I also found the 2nd point of contact that the zip tie is providing really helped.
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Last edited by Slimvest on Tue Feb 17, 2015 1:19 pm; edited 1 time in total
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dobryan
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 12:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Slimvest wrote:
Either my cable went bad or the heater valve is getting stiff, which caused the cable to bend at the dash control over the weekend. After cursing a bit over the fact that I just had the coolant system worked on and bled a month ago, I came up with this:

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Not sure how long it will last, but the zip tie is preventing the cable from bowing/bending when I move the lever to the cool side. Problem solved...until it isn't. Laughing


I have done exactly that mod in the past. Worked great! Very Happy
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 15, 2016 6:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gonna give this one a try. I was hoping to find a way not to have to pull the dash if I didnt have too.. Also the lowest cable is also bent and not functioning. Will have to see if I can do the same with that one.
Slimvest wrote:
Either my cable went bad or the heater valve is getting stiff, which caused the cable to bend at the dash control over the weekend. After cursing a bit over the fact that I just had the coolant system worked on and bled a month ago, I came up with this:

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Not sure how long it will last, but the zip tie is preventing the cable from bowing/bending when I move the lever to the cool side. Problem solved...until it isn't. Laughing

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shagginwagon83
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 03, 2019 5:20 am    Post subject: Re: Heater Valve Control Cable Mod Reply with quote

I did this yesterday without having to pull the dash. I replaced the cable because mine was bent. Thanks Wildthings for the post.
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AZ Landshaper
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 03, 2019 5:52 am    Post subject: Re: Heater Valve Control Cable Mod Reply with quote

Funny thing. I spent anhour yesterday trying to adjust a heater cable that was bent and stuck on. Almost 85 degrees in the desert this week and the heat in NOT needed.

Im gonna try this. And then get that AC rolling.
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